1. THE
ODYSSEY
HOMER
MS. ABBIE

2. ISMAROS
(THE LAND OF
CICONES)
Odysseus went to the Land of
Cicones for food and water. He
ended up raiding the town taking
all the food, water, and gold. The
gods were watching it and they
were disappointed in them.
That’s one of the reasons why
Odysseus lost so many of his
men.

4. THE ISLAND OF
THE LOTUS
EATERS
Odysseus and his men land on an
island inhabited by the Lotus Eaters,
a gentle people who only consume
the fruit of the lotus plant. Those
who eat the lotus fruit forget
about returning home, preferring
instead to hang out on the lotus
island and eat lotus fruit. Odysseus
drags his sailors weeping back to the
ship and ties them to their oars in
order to escape the Lotus Eaters’
island.

6. THE ISLAND OF
THE CYCLOPES
POLYPHEMUS
Odysseus and his men then sail through
the murky night to the land of the
Cyclops, a rough and uncivilized race of
one-eyed giants. After making a meal
of wild goats captured on an island
offshore, they cross to the mainland.
There they immediately come upon a
cave full of sheep and crates of milk
and cheese. The men advise Odysseus to
snatch some of the food and hurry off,
but, to his and his crew’s detriment, he
decides to linger. The cave’s inhabitant
soon returns—it is the Cyclops
Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon.

8. ISLAND OF
AEOLIA
Odysseus and his men keep sailing and they
find an island floating above the sea with a
steep cliff of bronze with a palace on top
of it. They have come upon the island of
Aeolia, home of Aeolus, god of wind. Aeolus
gifted him with a bag tied with a silver
cord. In the bag, he had bound up all the
winds but the kind and gentle west wind, in
order to help Odysseus in his travels.
Odysseus sets back and sails for nine days.
The wind being so favorable, they can see
Ithaca. Odysseus' men are so curious
about what is in the bag though, that they
open it up and all the harsher winds are let
loose and it carries them to unknown seas.

10. LAND OF THE
LAESTRYGONIANS
Lacking wind, the Achaeans row to the
land of the Laestrygonians, a race of
powerful giants whose king, Antiphates,
and unnamed queen turn Odysseus’s
scouts into dinner. Odysseus and his
remaining men flee toward their ships,
but the Laestrygonians pelt the ships
with boulders and sink them as they sit
in the harbor. Only Odysseus’s ship
escapes.
The Laestrygonians in the Odyssey were
basically a tribe of giants. Not only did
they have superhuman strength, but they
also had an appetite for human flesh. You
understood that correctly – they ate
people!

12. AEAEA
(CIRCE'S
ISLAND)
Odysseus and his men travel to Aeaea, home of
the beautiful witch-goddess Circe. Circe drugs a
band of Odysseus’s men and turns them into pigs.
When Odysseus goes to rescue them, Hermes
approaches him in the form of a young man. He
tells Odysseus to eat an herb called moly to
protect himself from Circe’s drug and then lunge
at her when she tries to strike him with her
sword. Odysseus follows Hermes’ instructions,
overpowering Circe and forcing her to change his
men back to their human forms. Odysseus soon
becomes Circe’s lover, and he and his men live
with her in luxury for a year. When his men finally
persuade him to continue the voyage homeward,
Odysseus asks Circe for the way back to Ithaca.
She replies he must sail to Hades, the realm of
the dead, to speak with the spirit of Tiresias, a
blind prophet who will tell him how to get home.

14. THE UNDERWORLD
Odysseus then speaks with the Theban prophet
Tiresias, who reveals that Poseidon is punishing
the Achaeans for blinding his son Polyphemus. He
foretells Odysseus’s fate—that he will return
home, reclaim his wife and palace from the
wretched suitors, and then make another trip to
a distant land to appease Poseidon. He warns
Odysseus not to touch the flocks of the Sun when
he reaches the land of Thrinacia; otherwise, he
won’t return home without suffering much more
hardship and losing all of his crew. When Tiresias
departs, Odysseus calls other spirits toward him.
He speaks with his mother, Anticleia, who updates
him on the affairs of Ithaca and relates how she
died of grief waiting for his return. He then
meets the spirits of various famous men and
heroes and hears the stories of their lives and
deaths.

16. THE ISLAND OF
THE SIRENS
CIRCE TO ODYSSEUS: First you will come to the
Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any
one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing
of the Sirens, his wife and children will never
welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field
and warble him to death with the sweetness of their
song.
There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all
around, with the flesh still rotting off them.
Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's
ears with wax that none of them may hear; but if
you like you can listen yourself, for you may get the
men to bind you as you stand upright on a cross-
piece half way up the mast, and they must lash the
rope's ends to the mast itself, that you may have
the pleasure of listening. If you beg and pray the
men to unloose you, then they must bind you faster.

18. SCYLLA AND
CHARYBDIS
Once they have passed the Sirens’ island,
Odysseus and his men must navigate the
straits between Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla
is a six-headed monster who, when ships
pass, swallows one sailor for each head.
Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that
threatens to swallow the entire ship. As
instructed by Circe, Odysseus holds his
course tight against the cliffs of Scylla’s
lair. As he and his men stare at Charybdis
on the other side of the strait, the heads
of Scylla swoop down and gobble up six of
the sailors.

20. THE ISLAND OF
HELIOS
Their next stop on the journey was the land of Helios, the sun
god. Odysseus was warned that he should not let his men
harm the cattle. If they were to leave the cattle unharmed
they would all return to Ithaca. If they harmed the cattle
they would all die except for Odysseus, he alone would return
to Ithaca, but with a great delay. Odysseus ordered them to
leave the cattle alone. They agree to only eat the food Circe
gave them. The winds end up really bad and they are stuck
there for over a month. While Odysseus goes inland to pray
for guidance one of the men says the worst kind of death is
starvation. The man then suggests that they find the best
cattle and sacrifice the cattle to the gods. In doing so they
make Helios very mad. When Odysseus returns and finds what
he had done he is furious with his men. When the winds die
down they set off on their journey again, but they run into a
storm. The man who steered the ship gets killed. Zeus sends
down a lighting bolt and they all are tossed off the ship.
Odysseus ties some parts of the ship back together and holds
onto that. The winds send him back to the Scylla and
Charybdis. He grabs onto the brand of a fig tree and holds on
while the Charybdis eats the rest of his ship. The Charybdis
regurgitates his mast and keel so Odysseus jumps onto those
and heads off to sea again.

22. CALYPSO'S
ISLAND
Calypso is an immortal goddess who holds
Odysseus prisoner for seven years on
the island where she lives and forces him
to be her lover. Calypso loves Odysseus
and wants to make him immortal so he
can stay with her and be her husband
forever, even though she understands
that he doesn’t love her back and wants
to return to Penelope.

24. ISLAND OF THE
PHAEACIANS
(SCHERIA)
While Odysseus is on his way home to Ithaca,
Poseidon realizes what Zeus has done and creates a
storm. Odysseus’ shipped is wrecked and he starts
to drown. Then the sea goddess Ino comes to his
rescue and puts a veil over him that keeps him safe.
Odysseus washed up on Scheria the land of the
Phaeacians at nighttime. That night while Princess
Nausicaa is sleeping Athena appears in her dream,
disguised as her friend. She tells Nausicaa to go to
the riverbank to wash her clothes the next morning.
Nausicaa goes with a few of her handsmaidens and
they take off their clothes to wash them. They
start playing ball and Odysseus wakes up. He sees
them and they are all afraid except for Nausicaa .

25. ISLAND OF THE
PHAEACIANS
(SCHERIA)
Nausicaa lets him wash himself up alone and Athena
makes him look very handsome so that Nausicaa will
fall in love with him. Nausicaa brings him to her
father, Alcinous. Alcinous is so impressed by
Odysseus that he asks him to take his daughters
hand in marriage. They had dinner the next night
and asks a blind bard, Demodocus, to tell the story
of the Trojan horse. During the story Odysseus
breaks down and Alcinous asks him who he is, where
he is from, and where he is going. Odysseus tells
Alcinous his whole story and Alcinous gives him a
ship that will take him home the next day. So the
next day he heads for Ithaca.

27. ISLAND OF THE
PHAEACIANS
(SCHERIA)
While Odysseus is on his way home to Ithaca,
Poseidon realizes what Zeus has done and creates a
storm. Odysseus’ shipped is wrecked and he starts
to drown. Then the sea goddess Ino comes to his
rescue and puts a veil over him that keeps him safe.
Odysseus washed up on Scheria the land of the
Phaeacians at nighttime. That night while Princess
Nausicaa is sleeping Athena appears in her dream,
disguised as her friend. She tells Nausicaa to go to
the riverbank to wash her clothes the next morning.
Nausicaa goes with a few of her handsmaidens and
they take off their clothes to wash them. They
start playing ball and Odysseus wakes up. He sees
them and they are all afraid except for Nausicaa .